William Joshua ALLEN, Congress, IL (1829-1901)

ALLEN, William Joshua, (son of Willis Allen), a Representative from Illinois; born in Wilson County, Tenn., June 9, 1829; moved with his father to Franklin (now Williamson) County, Ill., about 1830, and in 1839 settled in Marion; attended the common schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1849 and commenced practice in Metropolis; enrolling and engrossing clerk of the State house of representatives in 1849 and 1851; moved to Marion, Ill., in 1853 and continued the practice of his profession; appointed prosecuting attorney for the twenty-sixth judicial circuit of Illinois in 1854; member of the State senate in 1855; elected judge of the circuit court of the twenty-sixth judicial circuit on June 24, 1859, and served until 1861; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John A. Logan; reelected to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served from June 2, 1862, to March 3, 1865; was not a candidate for reelection in 1864; member of the State constitutional conventions in 1862 and 1870; delegate to all Democratic National Conventions from 1864 to 1888; moved to Springfield, Ill., in 1886; appointed United States district judge for the southern district of Illinois on April 18, 1887, and served until his death January 26, 1901, while visiting in Hot Springs, Ark.; interment in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Ill.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present